“He was loved by everyone,” said Gabriel Nacato’s sister
NEED TO KNOW
- A 17-year-old high school student is dead after his e-bike collided with an SUV in New York City on July 29
- The teen was heading to get help with summer job applications and was reportedly operating an illegal e-bike
- Local officials are calling for stricter e-bike safety regulations following the tragic accident
A 17-year-old high school student — who was on his way to get help so he could fill out summer job applications — was killed when his e-bike collided with an SUV in New York City.
“He was a beautiful boy. He was loved by everyone,” 25-year-old Fernanda Nacato told the New York Daily News of her brother, 17-year-old Gabriel Nacato, who died on July 19. “We’re all crying. We all miss him.”
That Wednesday, at 8:54 a.m. local time, officials responded to a 911 call of a crash at the intersection of Centre and Chambers streets in Lower Manhattan, a spokesperson for the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed to PEOPLE.
A preliminary investigation revealed that a 17-year-old boy, later identified as Gabriel, was operating an e-bike north on Centre Street when he collided with a 2008 Tahoe driven by a 40-year-old woman traveling in the same direction.
The teen fell onto the roadway and hit his head, police said. He was later pronounced dead at the scene by emergency personnel. His sister told the Daily News that he was traveling to Chinatown so he could get help filling out applications for a summer job.
Meanwhile, the driver of the Tahoe remained at the site of the crash, and no arrests have been made. An investigation into the fatal incident is ongoing by the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad, officials said.
The NYC Department of Transportation told WABC that Gabriel appears to have been on a Deepower electric bike. The vehicle is capable of going faster than 25 mph, which is why it is illegal to sell or operate that model of e-bike in New York City, the outlet reported.
“We’re talking about a 17-year-old New Yorker who is now dead,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference for a separate matter later that day, according to the Daily News. “And that is something we should all mourn, when we see that a family will have to live with that tragedy hovering over their lives — for not just weeks or months but frankly years and decades to come.”
The mayor said that a conversation locally and at the state level needs to occur to determine what type of legislation will ensure that “only the safest methods of transit — and the ones that are legally permissible — are the ones that are actually being used across New York City.”
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As city officials speak out about e-bike safety, Gabriel’s family is deep in their grief after the 11th grader’s death.
“He was a funny extrovert. He was always very social and he was very kind,” Fernanda told the outlet of her beloved brother, who was excited for his senior year at Manhattan International School. “We’re broken.”
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